Reddick brought blitz to Thomas early and often, and accounted for seven tackles, two for a loss, half a sack, two breakups and a quarterback hurry.

“He’s a big dude,” Reddick said of Thomas. “I told the guys we had to get multiple hits on him and get him down, keep striking him and get more guys to the ball.”

Thomas was flustered all day by North Carolina’s defense and could never establish a rhythm amidst an ongoing onslaught.

The 48-34 win over the Hokies put the Tar Heels (4-2, 1-1 ACC) in a good position in the Coastal Division.

Even though the Tar Heels can’t compete for an ACC championship, or go to a bowl game, this season due to an NCAA violation, Reddick made it known they had other goals.

“We want to destroy other teams’ seasons,” Reddick said. “Instead of worrying about us not going to the postseason this year, we need to set a standard to show other ACC teams that Carolina is a team they are going to have to worry about going forward.”

Reddick also made it clear that he has been closely following his high school alma mater this season.

“Oh yeah, New Bern is doing big things this year,” he said. “I saw that we just beat up Hoggard Friday night and I think we are going back to states.”

Highsmith a weapon in Fedora’s arsenal

UNC wide receiver Erik Highsmith is also a native of CravenCounty — having starred on the gridiron for West Craven.

While he has made a name for himself at Carolina, he is now a part of one of the more explosive Tar Heels’ offensive attacks in recent memory.

Highsmith, along with other playmaking wide outs Eric Ebron, Sean Tapley and Quinshad Davis, comprise a wide receiving corps to be feared by opposing defenses.

Against the Hokies, Highsmith tallied 29 receiving yards on four catches.

“It’s really good and fun to be a part of this offense,” Highsmith said. “We have so many guys who can make plays that the defenses can’t focus on just one of us.”

Knowing the history of Virginia Tech’s defense under revered defensive coordinator Bud Foster, Highsmith and his teammates know how rare, and special, it is to score nearly 50 points on them.

“It’s phenomenal, the way we played today,” Highsmith said. “I knew we could beat them and that we could put up points against them with all of our offensive weapons.”

Like Reddick, Highsmith is curious as to how his high school alma mater is doing this season.

“I haven’t been able to keep with them too much, and I wish I could make it home sometime to talk to them and I’m hoping I can sometime soon,” he said.

“What I would tell them is to just keep their heads up, play every game like its their last and enjoy it as much as they can.”